London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Lambeth 1968
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lambeth Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
112
(b) On account of their hardness content and alkaline reaction the Board's
river and well water supplies are not considered to be plumbo-solvent. It
should, however, be appreciated that all types of water pick up varying
amounts of metal from the material of water piping particularly when it is
newly installed; this applies to copper, zinc, iron and also to lead.
Special tests for lead have been carried out during 1968 on 100 premises
where a lead supply pipe is installed. The premises were chosen to give
an even distribution of samples throughout the whole of the Board's area.
Two samples were collected from each premises; one was the first
running of water standing in the lead pipe overnight and the other was a
sample of water after running the tap for a few minutes. The results are
set out in the accompanying table
| Lead content (mg/1 Pb) | Samples of water standing in lead pipe overnight | Samples of water after running the tap |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 0.01 | 10 | 37 |
| 0.01 | 31 | 57 |
| 0.02 | 21 | 4 |
| 0.03 | 8 | 1 |
| 0.04 | 9 | 0 |
| 0.05 | 5 | 0 |
| 0.06 | 5 | 0 |
| 0.07 | 4 | 1 |
| 0.08 | 1 | 0 |
| 0.09 | 3 | 0 |
| 0.10 | 1 | 0 |
| 0.12 | 1 | 0 |
| 0.16 | 1 | 0 |
| 100 premises | 100 premises |
The above results are very satisfactory and the figures are within the limits
of. the World Health Organisation European Standards for Drinking Water Quality.
This states that the upper limit for lead in running water in the supply should not
be more than 0.1 mg/1 (Pb); but where water undertakings continue to use lead
piping the concentration of lead (as Pb) should not exceed 0.3 mg/1 after 16
hours contact with the pipes.